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Alberta Lawyer News

45YO meted with 5-year prison term for severely beating girlfriend

Peter Joseph Poirier received a sentence of five years for severely beating his girlfriend twice in what has been described as a very extreme case of domestic violence.

Poirier, 45, however, only has two years and a half left to serve after he was credited for the time he spent in custody during the trial.

According to Edmonton lawyer Darin Slaferek, his 45-year-old client grew up to a father who constantly abused his mother.

Court heard that Poirier's acts were fueled by his jealousy of other men. Aside from mauling his girlfriend, he also threatened to kill her and himself and even detained her for a few days.

The girlfriend was finally able to escape from Poirier's clutches when he fell asleep.

By then she was already nursing several injuries including fractures to the skull and a bleeding brain, aside from the bruises all over her body.

No other option but to sue - Calgary lawyer

Posted Jan 20, 2016 on calgary.ctvnews.ca

Jeff Kahane, a lawyer in Calgary, said that there is no other option for disgruntled clients but to file a lawsuit against contractors who have abandoned them.

The Calgary General Contractors (CGC) has closed shop leaving several unfinished projects in its wake and putting house owners who have contracted them to renovate their homes at a disadvantage as they have already made payments.

In a statement sent to CTV News, a lawyer for CGC said that the contractor tried to stay afloat but it eventually had to close as a result of the declining economy.

Kahane said that in such situation, clients have no other choice but to file a lawsuit against the contractor.

Filing such a case would be worth it that is if the company has any assets left or any more collectibles.

Kahane advised that for renovations, it would be better to pay as work is done rather than paying in advance.

Calgary defence lawyer says client was wrongly accused

Sandoval-Barillas is on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a then 16-year-old girl October of 2013 close to the Rundle LRT station. He has also been accused of threatening her with a weapon.

Milczarek told the jury that the victim is accusing his client whom she did see at the LRT Station minutes before the assault happened.

The lawyer further added that because the victim was intoxicated, she had wrongly assumed that it was his client who had assaulted her but that it wasn't him and someone else.

However, the crown prosecutor has contradicted Milczarek's defense of his client and said that Sandoval-Barillas' claim that he had left the station a few minutes after the victim did to get a cab and not to follow and assault her, was not believable.

A video taken by surveillance cameras had the two taking a train at the Whitehorn station.

The case has been submitted to the jury for deliberation.

Woman gets conditional sentence for faking own abduction

Posted Jun 17, 2015 on www.edmontonsun.com

Caitlin Rose Pare will be spending four months under house arrest as part of her one year conditional sentence after she submitted a guilty plea to public mischief.

The 25-year-old Pare was charged after she admitted to faking her own abduction to collect money from her family and boyfriend to pay off a drug debt.

Pare, who has a three-year-old daughter, got hooked on drugs after she became addicted to painkillers which were prescribed for her back injury.

After serving her conditional sentence, Pare will be made to undergo probation for a year and a half.

Nanny from the Philippines given chance to stay

Posted Feb 12, 2015 on www.cbc.ca

Teresita Seradilla was all set to go home to the Philippines after she has been asked by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada to leave when she got a call which allows her to stay.

In the call, the Immigration department admitted its mistake which caused Seradilla her residency permit.

Seradilla was granted a caregiver visa, however, the proper process would have been she should have left Canada first before applying for the visa. This lapse surfaced when Seradilla applied for a residency permit.

The immigration department says it tries its best to right its wrongs.

Canada Lawyer News

Calgary immigration lawyer asks CBSA to be humane to client

Bjorn Harsanyi, an immigration lawyer in Calgary, is asking the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) to help his client, Aida Castilla Romero, to return to her native country of Mexico by land.

Romero's work permit has expired and although she is willing to go home, she is afraid to get on a plane because she fears her lungs might collapse due to a rare disease that she has been diagnosed with.

Because of her health condition, Romero's lungs had collapsed a year after she came to Canada to work. While getting treatment, the terms of Romero's work permit ended. She was refused an extension and was denied a refugee status and eventually received a deportation order.

Cautioned by a doctor against flying as it would cause her lungs to collapse again; Romero through Harsanyi asked the CBSA to allow her to go back to Mexico by land. This, however, was denied too.

Harsanyi is appealing for the CBSA to help his client get a visa so she can travel to Mexico by land passing through the US as this is within the agency's capabilities.

There has been no word yet from the CBSA and Romero fears that she would be forced to board a plane when the deportation date arrives, least she would get arrested again which is what happened when her lawyer had informed the CBSA of her growing fears. They had deemed she would not get on her deportation flight.

Nepal citizens who are working in Canada on a temporary permit should be given a reprieve, according to Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma.

Sharma said that the Canadian government should do something for the foreign workers from Nepal which recently suffered from a very strong earthquake.

The lawyer has proposed to have the foreign workers from Nepal be given permanent residency as some of them already had their permits expiring.

He said that a little less than 400 Nepalese are working in Canada under the temporary foreign worker program.

Sharma added that with the catastrophe, it will not be appropriate to be sending them back to Nepal.

Pastor nets jail for possessing child pornography

Posted Jun 18, 2015 on www.edmontonsun.com

Richard John Docekal, who used to be a pastor in Edmonton, will be spending six months in jail after he submitted a guilty plea to possession of child pornography.

The 59-year-old Docekal admitted to having a large collection of pornographic materials of drawings in cartoons depicting children having sexual relations with their parents.

Ed O'Neill, a lawyer in Edmonton defending for the disgraced pastor, said that his client has regretted his misdeed which resulted to him no longer serving as a pastor.

Docekal's marriage also became a casualty of his unsavory hobby and he was also subjected to public humiliation after his arrest landed on the front pages of the news, said the lawyer.

The pastor's penchant for the pornographic materials came to light after the woman with whom he had an affair blew the whistle on him.

High Court decides popular pizza chain can't end franchise

Posted Mar 11, 2015 on www.cbc.ca

The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that Domino's Canada cannot end the franchise of a pizza store in North Vancouver based on an unproven accusation.

Domino's Canada had informed the francise operated by Farhad "Alex" Iranmanesh and Keyvan Iranmanesh that it is terminating its contract after conducting its own probe on allegations that the brothers have exploited two of their employees.

Dakota Gervais-Brulhart and Blake Dearman have filed a complaint that they weren't paid and when they did not go to work to protest the wrongdoing, they were assaulted and even received death threats.

The Iranmanesh brothers, however, claimed the allegations are still unproven and they asked for an injunction order to stop Domino's Canada from ending their franchise.

Other employees of the Iranmanesh brothers also denied the claims of the complainant employees.

The judge approved the order saying that Domino's Canada cannot end its contract with the Iranmanesh brothers based on allegations that have not been proven whether true or not.

The disgruntled employees vowed to stick to their claims while Domino's Canada also said it will fight the injunction.